London  - Former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan said on Friday that he sees a turning point in the current financial crisis, with the troubled US housing market recovering in the first half of 2009.

Writing in Emerging Markets, a British financial publication, Greenspan said that he saw the "eventual thawing" of the world's frozen credit markets and that "more conclusive signs of pending home price stability are likely to become visible in the first half of 2009."

Greenspan, who ruled the Fed from 1987 to 2006, although widely praised during his tenure, has been criticized of late for what some see as his role in creating the current economic crisis in the US. dpa